Culture under the cardboard box

I'm sure this must have been done in some capacity already, but it feels like something I would like to start or develop in some form...

I was randomly humming an old metal track, and discussing it with a colleague; when I thought about the idea of trying to covertly get the song into the heads of other people in the agency. A kind of unknowing cultural experiment where people could end up humming a song they had never heard before in a genre they probably don't listen to.

How can we create Covert Culture?

That got me thinking about the other possibilities of inserting culture into places it doesn't naturally fit. Music is an easy form of this, nudging a song into people's memories. Yet you could also do this with art, or poetry, design or even philosophy. A way of encouraging the absorbtion and trial of wider cultures and ideas.

The closest fit I can think of is graffiti putting personal comment into random locations, but I'd like to see something with more of a cultural agenda than a political or personal one.

Maybe it's putting art postcards in copies of Twilight. Putting a USB stick of classical music on the bar at a rock gig. Putting a book on the seat of a bus.

There must be hundreds of ways to spread culture in a covert manner. I'd love to think of a way to bring this to life...

Review of 2010 - Part One - Music

There have been some brilliant albums released this year, perhaps a surprising number of disappointing ones too. But here are my picks for albums and tracks of the year:

Albums:

The Drums - The Drums

Maybe deserving of plaudits simply for not being drowned in the hype and expectation surrounding it. More so though for being irresistibly catchy and writing the best song about surfing since the Beach Boys.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - The Golden Year

Perhaps (sadly) more likely to be remembered for the tragic death of their lead singer than their actual music, this album was a totally unexpected surprise. Some amazing songs and a brilliant sound that feels retro but without feeling dated or cliche'd.

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Great album. Really great album. Punctuated with two of the best metal tracks of this century. When Chi Cheng finally wakes up from his coma, I can't wait to see him play this stuff with the band again.

Wavves - King of the Beach

Noisy surf punk genius.

Tracks:

The Drums - Me and the Moon

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - The Key

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Mark Ronson - The Bike Song

Hurts - Silver Lining

One More Thing:

I still for the life of me cannot understand how on earth a band as dull as the XX have managed to become so popular. It's about as exciting as a wholemeal cucumber sandwich with margarine. I understand the potential of things being simple and minimal, but please let's not have minimal equating to deathly boring.

Let there be music!

Just a note to say that I have finally started my old music blog again. I'll be posting tracks every day or two that I think are interesting, new, or forgotten. If you wish to comment that would be awesome.

FireFlower Music Blog

BERRAND Values

Rob Campbell in his early days
(Blogosphere in-joke)

As an avid follower of a variety of different genres of music, I've been a regular reader of Kerrang for about 10 years. It's always been a reasonable barometer of what is interesting and exciting in the world of rock, metal and alternative music, but with a good sense of history, remembering the greats of the past and how they influence the present.

The thing that struck me this weekend though, is how inconsistent the values of Kerrang appear to be when moved into other media, and how balancing mass appeal with loyalty to your core values is a tricky thing.

On the way 'Dahn Sowf', we drove through Brimingham, and we tuned into Kerrang Radio to see if would play decent music during the day (as opposed to the trite enforced retro blandness of most local radio).

What I heard confused the hell out of me. I listened for about 8 songs, which included The Kooks, The Police, Blur and Coldplay. Fucking Coldplay. On Kerrang.

Never in a million years would Kerrang even consider writing about Coldplay (unless they have taken an unexpected death metal turn on the next album). Yet here it was being played out attached to the Kerrang brand. One of the trailers then said 'we don't play the same pop as everyone else, we play rock'. Not on this listen you didn't.

I'm not expecting them to go all out: "You're listening to the Kerrang morning show, coming up we have Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, and Cradle of Filth." But under any appropriation of the Kerrang brand the stuff they were playing just does not fit.

The Kerrang TV channel has always been somewhere in the middle. Playing decent stuff in the early hours, but suffering from an obsession for soft rock at all other times. I used to switch off because there was only so many Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters and sodding Nickleback tracks I could take.

It's a brand that in print has always felt like it had a solid set of values and yet in TV and radio it always feels like it is compromising those values in the name of a bigger audience. I wish Kerrang TV and radio would decide what they are, and either change their content or change their branding.

Ad Pit Review of the Decade - Part 1 - Music

We shall start the big load of decade end chartage with the other topic that I love along side that in which I work... Music!

(Note that these aren't necessarily the "best" songs/albums per se, but are the ones that meant most to me or impacted my view of music)

Top Ten Songs of the Decade

System of a Down - Chop Suey
Only once have I ever heard people singing drown out a huge club PA. This was the song.

Rhianna - Umbrella
Any song in which Jay-Z is the weakest part has to be good. This track is so brilliantly produced as to wholeheartedly straddle any line between pop and 'real' music you could ever draw.

Idlewild - Roseability
I often state this as my favourite song of all time. My lists of this kind always change about but this will always be in my top ten songs ever.

Asobi Seksu - Nefi and Girly
A beautiful song that makes owning a cat seem like the most natural and joyful thing in the world. Loud and noisy yet angelic. Stunning in every sense of the word.

The Blood Brothers - Ambulance vs Ambulance
Do I understand a word they say? Not really, but it's magnificent nonetheless.

Killswitch Engage - My Last Serenade
Brutally heavy yet wonderfully melodic.

Skindred - Nobody
Heard Reggae-metal before? You should. One of the best live bands in the world with a song that inspires mayhem.

Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
I love their first two albums, but this song takes everything good about Ladytron and dials it up.

Atreyu - The Theft
Award for the best cheesy backup vocals goes to this one, but it is still a magnificent track.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
I think this is easily the most heartfelt song of the decade, beautiful but with a guitar hook to die for.


Top Ten Albums of the Decade

Asobi Seksu - Citrus

I saw Asobi Seksu supporting Ladytron last year and was so amazed I bought this album. It took me a while to get into it, but eventually I found a masterpiece that manages to be unbelievably beautiful yet powerfully noisy. Imagine My Bloody Valentine fronted by an angel. An album that you could (and I have) easily get lost in for days.

-

Green Day - American Idiot

It may not be a choice of so called musical purists. But let's look at the facts: A major label release with that title, an aggresive and political concept album that works both as it's concept and as a collection of songs, returning a band most people thought were dead to centre stage in world music. A brave, well crafted piece of genius. Anyone who thinks it isn't punk spirited isn't looking hard enough.

System of a Down - Toxicity
If you want justification that the nu-metal wave of metal was worth it's place in history look no further than this (and the album below). Every song is loud and heavy and aggressive yet it packs melodies and hooks that pop writers would die for.

Deftones - White Pony
To my mind the best rock/metal album I have ever bought. Complex, creepy, dark and brooding. Most of my first year of university was spent with this at ear shattering volume. It's worth the deafness.

Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
A band with punkish origins add a bit more melody and make an album that defined several years of my life. That I have a signed cd copy makes it even better. I wrote to them and waited to hear back, about 2 years later I get an envelope with marker pen scrawled on the front saying "Sorry this is so so very late, hope you still want it." I did.

M.I.A - Kala
Defining the term 'world music' in one album. Sounds like little else yet takes a huge mesh of influences and makes them work like a musical box of Celebrations. I played it again the other week and was blown away again.

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Incredible live, this may have been the soundtrack to plenty of so called emo tantrums; but please don't let that spoil a wonderful album.

Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
You can hear the influences, you can hear the mixed up sound, but by god you can hear some brilliant songs.

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Hyped for years, I finally saw them live and was thoroughly disappointed. I nearly didn't buy this. I did, and I am so glad. A journey through electronic sound. Weird and noisy but full of hooks. So good that Timberland stole from them.

Oh My Word! - The Best Album in The World Ever (apart from KLF's The White Room)
You won't have heard this, and that is sad. A silly leap through the now departed Sheffield legends' magical brand of silliness.

"Turn that damn thing off!!!"

I posted a irritable comment on twitter the other day, and was quickly replied to with a very intelligent observation. I thought about it some more and here is the summation of that thought. Credit to Rikesh for this thought and making me think about something I took as given.

On the way home from work some 16 year old kid was blasting shitty faux-rnb from their phone, and having had a busy day it really pissed me off. I felt like shouting 'get some headphones!'

Indeed when I got home I went on twitter and enquired why no one under the age of 17 gets what headphones are.

Rikesh responded by reminding me of something very true. Those 14-18 year olds are the generation that has grown through childhood with the ringtone and mobile speakers as part of their everyday experience.

That got me thinking. What if they subscribe to a completely different viewpoint. What if instead of just being used to speaker music, their whole perception of being rude is different.

We see headphones as polite, as a way of avoiding disturbing other passengers and passers by. A way of keeping our noise to ourselves.

What if these kids see it the other way. That headphones are rude because they exclude you, it's you shutting other people out, being self absorbed instead of sharing with others. It might be a long shot but its a possibility, if you are always with your friends why would you listen to music on your own? I wouldn't put headphones on if I was at the pub, maybe that logic applies when you are always hanging out with your mates.

Or they could just be annoying brats...

How to be a Music Fan in 2009

[Warning - severely pissed off language ahead]

If you want to be a fan of music and support it then there is only one solution. Be rich, realllly fucking rich.

There is no other way.

Touts and promoters are ripping the heart out of the live scene and turning gigs into a battle of who can afford it. Going to see any band that has a national following is now like Chelsea and Man City battling to sign an overpriced British midfielder.

Ticket prices appear to have rocketed over the last 2 years. I am pretty sure that attending a small to mid sizd gig has crept up between £6 and £15 for about 10 years. Suddenly I am paying £25 a ticket, plus £3 booking fee and £5 delivery charge, and £3 credit card fee and quite frankly gig going has been forced into the realms of theatre going and holidays where you have to plan months in advance and can only afford to go once a month.

That isn't helped by bands who decide a UK tour is London and Birmingham. Not only does it mean we have to pay for trains and hotels in order to go, it means the touts smell an opportunity, and in the UK its oh so easy to screw real fans out of money.

Lets take today. I ordered a cd from HMV in order to take part in a pre-sale for tickets.

• 9am tickets go on sale at £40 each.


• I load the page at 9.00, choose tickets, and it won't let me buy them.


• I try again at 9.04 and it says four left, and it won't let me buy them.


• 9.05 - sold out.


• 9.50 - Listing for two tickets on ebay at £400.

Mother shit eating worse than Hitler slimy evil greedy fuckers...

Touts are now an unlawful tax on gig going. Not only do they make a fortune ripping off real fans, they take the tickets we were going to buy in the first place.

It's not just eBay. Seatwave is a 'fan to fan' ticket selling service. Well, no matter what the intentions, when a £30 ticket is going for £130; that's touting, regardless of whether it was a genuine purchase.

I propose a new law:

It should be legal to strangle touts with guitar strings until they give you tickets at list price.

I would even vote for David Wormface Cameron if he agreed to pass that one.

Tune into Famous Rob Radio

Through the wonderful Blip.

A cross between Last.fm and Twitter.

My new work time music site of choice.

Blip.FM invite

Advertising that should burn in agency hell for all eternity Part 1

Combine a brand famous for terrible tv ads with the band most hated (and by hated I mean violently disgusted by the sheer awfulness of) by the rock community.

What do you have?

DFS and Nickleback. Singlehandedly lowering the bar for ad music, creative relevance and cliche handling. I understand the idea of being influenced by a video, and it works in that respect, but dear god get a better band to utilise.

Hell, if you get some Machinehead into your next ad I will singlehandedly start the campaign to get it into Cannes next year.

DFS ads were improving... were.

Marcus and NP

Quick note that I have made a post especially for you two on my music blog!

FireFlower Music Blog

Maestro....

Just to let you know, I have finally started a music blog like i've been threatening to.
If you think I get angry at ads, you should see me with music...

I hope at least a few of you will want to join in the debate! (It will feature the "A band a week" topic I meant to keep doing for NP).

Thanks.

FireFlower music blog.